Roku recently announced the addition of two user friendly audio products to its roster, just a year after releasing its TV wireless speakers ($149.99, originally $199.99; roku.com). The Roku Smart Soundbar and Wireless Subwoofer are easy ways to enhance the sound quality of your TV. Both are available for preorder and will ship in mid-October.
How do these products make your TV viewing better?
The Roku Smart Soundbar gets its smarts from being both a streaming box, providing access to thousands of shows and songs, and a traditional state of the art soundbar. So the big news is that it eliminates the need for a streaming box. That streaming quality is up to 4K and will connect to your TV via ARC HDMI (the HDMI port that provides power) or optical.
Plus, it has special volume features, such as night mode, that lowers the volume of louder scenes. We first saw this with the TV Wireless Speakers. Bluetooth pairing and voice assistant compatibility with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant also are on board, and voice functionality comes with the included remote. We’ll find out just how good it sounds when Underscored puts it to the test in the coming weeks.
The Roku Wireless Subwoofer is designed to pair with the Smart Soundbar. It’s essentially a dedicated bass unit for your TV, and when paired with the Smart Soundbar and original Connect Speakers, can give you a whole room setup.
At $179.99, Roku’s soundbar by Roku is priced lower than other soundbars, such as the Sonos Beam, which is $399. It provides access to more than 500,000 shows and movies, setting it part from competitors.
Note: The prices above reflects the retailer’s listed prices at the time of publication.